Survivors
by Steel autobot
Summary: Three girls all of them friends! There powers make them hide. They are never seen. Hiding is what they so and there the best at it. Huntress, Fireball, and Panther.
1. Prologue

Prologue  
Hi, my name is Fireball, well, that's not entirely true. My code name is Fireball, my real name is Joanna Scarlet Davis, but I hate that name. So most people call me Jo. I'm a person with abilities (born that way), yeah I know, crazy right? I have a best friend from college who is also a person with abilities. I can absorb, control, and emit fire. No, it's not like the human torch, I cannot become an actual fireball or fly, sorry to disappoint. I also was born blind, however, I can see thermal energy (heat) and like a bat does combined. Because I'm a mutant, but I can't see color, I can see general shapes and heat, but that's about it. I have to read brail. I'm about five, six, have long brown hair that's about shoulder length. Oh, and my best friend got bit by some wolf and now has extra good hearing and has great sight. Which I lack, so she always looked out for me. I swear, she's so quiet you would hear a shadow coming before you heard her, she's got the most gorgeous red hair. I'm sad to say I am quite jealous of her beauty, she has dark blue eyes, is the best hunter (as you can imagine), and for some reason likes to wear red dresses with leggings. I have no idea why. So, her code name is huntress, and her real name is Stella Seaburn Sides. Don't ask. We live in the woods mostly, hiding, if we were seen we would be killed for our differences. I've heard there are others of our kind, supernaturals, but I never seen fit to seek them out. So, Stella and I live in the woods between Washington and Canada (they have a lot of tree coverage). She hunts, I cook, she goes to the market, I wash dishes and clothes, she tries to get me to seek out others, we fight about it. It's a working relationship. I prefer to wear a man's attire, she wears short dresses with leggings, she wants to be out in the world, I want to stay in hiding. Like I said, a working relationship, as in, it takes effort to make it work. And we still fight. The only reason we are hunted now is because of the stupid hate groups the aliens in new york made by making themselves known. Damn you, Loki! For bringing this down on us. Gods. Stella keeps saying I'm bitter, cynical, hermit, who doesn't want anything to do with the world and wants to hide for the rest of her life. Does that sound so bad? No, not really. I'd rather do that than die in surprisingly new horrible ways. I shiver at the thought.


	2. Jo Fireball

Jo

I was setting up camp like I normally do, when Stella dragged a humungous bear to me. She has hunted bear before, and it's good for food and blankets, but it's a pain to butcher it in the fall when she hunts them. This bear was the biggest yet, it must be a male. She had used a cart to drag it so as not to ruin the fur, this time. I watched her out of the corner of my eye as I butchered the bear, the meat had to be hung in strips so it would become lasting jerky, the bones we would toss, and the fur must be cleaned and cured so it would last quite a few years. I watched Stella as she breathed, getting her adrenaline under control, her eyes still shined from the hunt (not that I could tell, but I could tell her expression). She always scared me a little after a hunt, all instinct. "Do you need to burn off some steam? It's going to take me a while to do this." I asked, wondering if I should worry about my safety, or hers. She shook her head. "I'll be fine, I just need a minute." I nodded and went back to work. I had finally finished when Stella approached me, I was washing up in a nearby stream. "Jo, I want you to meet someone tomorrow, can I bring her over for lunch?" She asked. "Sure, how do you know her?" "She's the person I buy all my weapons from." She informed me, I still didn't see why not. "Ok, bring her over at lunch tomorrow." I thought she would be over the moon, because she was so timid on the subject. It sounded like she was walking on eggshells and choosing her words carefully. But she wasn't, instead she told me more. "When you meet her, I want you to keep an open mind." She continued. "Yeah, sure. Is there anything else?" "Nope." "Well, I have preparations to make then." I walked back to camp and stirred the soup I had been making since I'd butchered the bear, it was extremely thick, but it would be good. I had enough for a guest, and this would still last quite a few weeks. I checked on the skin, it was ready to be washed in the stream, it was well past dark by the time I finished processing the skin. I crawled into a sleeping bag that was made of other bear skins from past years (in a separate tent from Stella). Whatever we didn't use, we sold on the black market (we couldn't risk getting a license to sell), extra skins of various animals, extra meat we couldn't carry, even bones. Hey, we made very good use of "one man's garbage is another man's treasure" or however that goes. I set the fire up to last the night, and went to sleep. I woke up before the sun so I could prepare breakfast and bathe, the food had cooked on coals a ways away from the fire, so it wan't burned, just warm. I left it and bathed in the stream, the water's icy, frigid depths would have been less than comfortable, so I warmed it up a little. By the time I had dried off and was eating breakfast, Stella had woken and joined me. We never spoke much in the morning, she left a while later, the sun had fully risen by now. I cleaned up and washed the dishes, I packed up the dried meat so it would be safe to eat later, and waited for lunch to come. I was bored, so I wrote brail (using my jeweler) on all my clothing on non-annoying places, (so I could tell what color they were,) all my jewels were black, so it didn't look bad on any of the clothes. Well, I _tried_ writing brail to help me pick out clothes. The problem was, I couldn't tell how to label them, _because_ I needed to label them. I need someone who can see color, hm. I'll ask Stella sometime. Instead, I played with a ball of fire. Then I got bored with that, so I watched the already made fire. Thinking. I thought about my parents, the utter lack of them, I wondered who they were. I hadn't just known Stella in college, we were born and dropped off at the orphanage the same day, she watched out for me, even helped me pick out clothes to minimize teasing and bullying. We had known each other our entire lives, we were even planning to work together. Before what happened in New York. We were lucky, we had just finished college before the witch hunts started, others weren't. I love Stella like a sister, she was human until college started. When she got bit by that ill were-wolf or wolf, we're not sure, I had told her about my abilities when I got them. Puberty. I was naive back then, which is a good thing because she took it really well. When she got her abilities she was a little surprised, but she didn't totally freak, she was prepared for it. When the witch hunt started, she somehow kept seeing the good in people. For me everything changed, I didn't trust people anymore, I lost my adventurous side, I just wanted to hide and try to forget what had happened. I looked up to see Stella with a woman. She had long black hair with blue streaks, emerald green eyes, she was tall, maybe five ten, and she had a sarcastic disposition about her. How could I tell the colors of her hair and eyes? I have no idea, I can tell what color someone's hair, skin, and eyes are, but I can't see any other color. Just thermal energy. I had no idea what color she was wearing, just that there was a jacket, a T-shirt underneath, combat boots, and some kind of pants. "Jo, this is Danielle Nicole Anderson. Dani, this is Joanna Scarlet Davis." Stella introduced us. I stood up and shook her hand. "So, I hear your the only person Stella will buy weapons from, she's very specific about her weapons." I smiled at her, I bustled about getting bowls filled with soup and handing them out, then I got wooden spoons and we ate. "So, why have you decided to introduce me to your weapons supplier, Stella?" I asked sweetly, she squirmed a little. "Um, she's a tech expert too." She finally said, I was on high alert now. "You didn't answer my question, what is it?" I said threateningly. Dani looked at Stella, silently saying "seriously? This is the woman you put up with?" I was still fixed on Stella. "She, needs a place to stay." She said uncomfortably. "And why can't she find sanctuary elsewhere?" I asked angrily. Stella didn't respond. "Oh, for crying out loud! If you won't tell her, I will." Dani said equally angry as I to Stella, then turned to me. "I'm a shifter, I can change into _anything_ I've seen before. And since the aliens invaded New York, the hate groups have been after the lot of us. I was living in the woods, I finished my degree in weapons and tech before I moved to the woods. That's why I sell on the black market, Stella offered me a place to live among my own kind. I prefer to turn into a panther, and I wanted to live with others that were like me. I _assumed_ Stella told you _before_ I came here, but I see I was wrong." Dani said angrily in Stella's direction. I didn't like it, but I knew I would let her stay, my mother hen instinct was way too strong. It didn't matter we were the same age, it didn't matter that she was just as dangerous as any other person with abilities, all that mattered was she needed a home. I knew this was why Stella had done it this way, if it had happened any different, I would have let her fend for herself. But it didn't, that didn't mean I wasn't mad at Stella, though. "You can stay in my tent, I have extra space and I'll make the new bear skin into a sleeping bag for you by tonight. You may stay as long as you like, but the general rule is, let me do all the stay at home things. I cook, clean, butcher meat, gather and dry herbs, spices, and other plants for stew, and I make new clothes, and sleeping bags when needed. I have Stella sell anything I make or she hunts we don't need. Stella hunts, buys and sells things at the market place. Stella will get you a tent when we have the money. Tomorrow we're leaving for a cave we migrate to every winter, it has it's own waterfall and beach within the cave." I shrugged at her. "It'll take a few days to get to, though. We move closer to the market in the summer, farther away in the winter. We stay near the border, but we don't go to the same market every summer. It is however safe to go to the same place for winter, no witnesses." I explained. "What do I do?" Dani asked me, that was a good question. "What can you do?" I asked. "I can make weapons, make sure no one is posting us on the internet, and hunt." I looked at her, I would never turn down an opportunity to sell meat, skins, and nicely carved bones. (What can I say, I have interesting talents.) Having another hunter would mean I could prepare and make all those things more often, which meant more money. "Do all that, hunt in a separate area than Stella. But other than that your contribution would be equal to ours." I told her, I was pleased we had a techy to keep us off the grid, and there was no harm in having a weapon's expert on hand.

The next few days went well, as I suspected with two hunters we got double the meat, I dried as much as I could. But I eventually had Stella go to town and sell it. I was extremely occupied with making skins into something sellable or usable, as well as saving meat and carving bones into necklaces and small trinkets. Dani kept to her word about keeping us off the internet, I was pleased. I was starting to quite like her. I approached her, we were set up for the night, tomorrow we would arrive at the cave. "Danielle, what do you want your code name to be?" I asked her. "Code name?" She questioned. "Yeah, mine is fireball and Stella's is Huntress. It's the name we give if we don't want them to know who we really are, do you have one, if not, do you want one?" I asked her. "What would mine be?" She asked, so I made a suggestion. "Panther." I told her. "Then that's my code name." She said. "I'll go tell Stella." I said, and started off, but she stopped me. "You can call me Dani, can I call you Jo?" She asked. I smiled warmly. "I actually prefer it, Dani." She smiled and I walked off to tell Stella, she was quite happy to hear it. Guessing that I had taken Dani under my wing. We got to the cave the next day, it was a very large cave, a kind of cave you would expect to find a dragon in, it had a compartment other than the main one. Which was the one with sand floor and a pool with a waterfall from the river above feeding it. The entrance was small, human size, in the ginormous wall in the back. I set up the sleeping bags, but left the tents packed. I gathered wood and threw some fire on the bon-fire-level mound of wood. Closer to the front, it was a very big cave, and required a very big fire to warm. I gathered a whole lot of wood and even had Stella and Dani help. By nightfall we had enough to last the night. The next three weeks we cut down few trees and gathered _tons_ of wood, stocking up for the winter. We would have to stick to small fires close to the back for now on, but other than that we had enough wood for the winter. It didn't take as long to get enough food with two hunters than it did with one. And soon it was snowing, this was my favorite time of year. When I have time to enjoy a good fire, and carve and sand wood. I don't like it because it's pretty, or to get money, I liked it because it gave me a chance to think. I was carving now, thinking about the future I thought I would have. Before New York. I thought I would have a husband, children, I thought I would be a lawyer. I thought about how my worst problem was my college final. How I thought I would be Stella's neighbor in a suburb town, how our children would play happily together, how the thanksgiving table would have our children, husbands, and husband's families. I always imagined having a huge family, having chaotic holidays that involved a lot yelling and cooking. I was hopeful back then, happy, a day-dreamer. But when I saw the aliens on the news, I knew, I knew I would get none of those things. A stupid dream it seems now, but if I carve, and let myself day-dream. I can almost believe none of this happened, that I really did get all I wanted. I was grateful that I was able to stay with Stella, if she had died, I would have let the same happen to me, life was only worth living as long as the ones I care about are in it. I thought about the day I got my fire abilities, I was being bullied again, a guy pushed me and called me an invalid. I was completely blind back then, I couldn't see anything, so as you can imagine it was quite difficult to defend myself blind. But that day I thought about how much I wanted him to hurt, and the next thing I know, I'm seeing colors that represent temperatures. And seeing sounds. I had been shocked to see the bully burned. He healed completely, and no-one believed his story that I'd burned him, but he never touched me again. I told Stella ASAP, I was freaking out and Stella calmed me then. I still find that surprising to this _day_. I miss it, the simple life of college, the planning. Now I can't plan more than a few weeks ahead without sobbing in despair at the utter lack of a long term plan. Stella had a plan, but I didn't think it was worth hoping for. And I'd told her so, this was one of the times she called me cynical and negative. She thought that one day we'd find enough people with abilities we could start a camp, a safe-haven. I have to admit I liked the concept, but there would always be a risk that one of our refugees choose to sell us all out in exchange for freedom. Was I paranoid? Yes. Did I want to risk it? Hell no. Even if none of them chose to sell us out, there was no way we could find enough people, to need a camp. Besides, anyone who has survived this long doesn't need us. It would be too difficult to keep up a camp, we'd need a safe place to stay, and we'd have to find a way to provide for them all. How would we keep the location a secret from hate groups _and_ lead new people in need of the safe-haven? There was a lot to consider, would I want to help others if we could? Hell yes. Is it possible? Sadly, no. I continued to carve a wooden horse statue and think about what Dani's arrival meant for Stella and me. Was she really following through with the safe-haven?


	3. Stella Huntress

Stella

I'm crazy, insane, and slightly normal, but only 20% normal. The rest of me is crazy and insane. Wait a minute, I forgot to go bug Jo. "Hello sweet Jo." I sweetly said to Jo as she cleaned. "Go away." She demanded. I gave up on bugging her for the minute. I'm strange. I need help from experts. I'm a girl with the abilities of a wolf, but not a wear-wolf. I got attacked when I was younger, when fireball and I went on a walk. The wolf attacked me and then died right after. We never knew that the wolf had been exposed to a super soldier serum at the time, I guess someone had used it as a test subject and it ran off. I guess that because I got the bit by the wolf I got the super soldier serum, but it had been altered by the wolf's DNA. In turn I have a wolf's speed, sight, hearing, smell, and want to hunt and protect others.

Anyway, Jo has no way of getting me not to bug her, so she's not too happy with me. Dan is right now curled up next to the fire on top of her sleeping bag. Jo is carving things (don't ask), and thinking, by the fire. I decide I want to hide, so I go into our other room. I sit in the sand there and watch the water fall. I think of my childhood and the people I lost that I cared about. I never told anyone what happened when I was younger. Jo may be the mother goose now, but I am very protective. Like a mother wolf I protect everyone, but I was always like this, not just after I got my abilities. I remember at one time I had almost killed my stepfather. He never loved me, and he took everything from me.

At that time in life I had a friend named Caroline. We were both just entering high school, and she was my only friend. She could control water, and at that time, I was not the Huntress, but she was SeaStorm. My stepfather killed her in front of me.

A few years later I met Fireball, and she became my next best friend. I was well known at that time that I was in an orphanage because of my stepfather killing my friend. Along with that I had almost killed him, from hitting him once. The people who tried to bully me were injured. I met Fireball when she got bullied by some guy. I stopped it. Later on, she got her abilities and some sight back.

I bit my lip and cleared my thoughts. It was just in time because Fire and Panther called me. I stood, dusted myself off, and made my way to the fire. "Huntress, we should get some sleep," I Fire grumble. "Ok Fire, and please be nice right now," she glared at me for that comment. I went over to hide in my tent.

Curling up in a ball, in my sleeping bag. I found sleep quickly. My dreams started off some place happy and peaceful.

•••

I awoke to the sound of nothing. No sound creeped in like an invader. I sat up and took in a breath of cold air. Breathing out, I could see my breath rise. I crawled out of my sleeping bag before deciding what I wear. "It's to cold for anything normal," I grumble aloud. I end up deciding that I will wear the white fuzzy parka made of rabbit that Jo made me, with some heavy duty pants also made by Jo, and my boots made by Jo. I crawl out before remembering my gloves and weapons. I reached in to grab my gloves and also a scarf. I pull the hood of the parka over my head, then wrap the scarf around my head to cover most of my red hair, my mouth, and nose. I slip on both gloves then walk over the coals of our fire last night. My bow and arrows sit there waiting for me like they always do. I put my arrows on my back, then walk out carrying my bow. By the way, for the record, I made my gloves and scarf, not Jo. I know how to knit and sew, so she's not the only one who can.

Anyway, I walk out and some snow blows into my face. At this point anyone who does not know me would think I was a boy from all my clothing. I smell the breeze to find that there is a scent coming from around six miles out. I growl then take off in that direction.

Ten minutes later, I'm hiding in a tree. There are seven people coming towards me. Six are male, one is female, and more importantly they have a unique scent to them. Something that makes me worry. "Fury, why are we out here?" Growled one of them. I could just now see them all and I knew most of them. "We're out here because there are three people out here with super abilities," growled the one known as Fury. "How are we supposed to find them?" Grumbled the same one as before, and if I was correct, it was Iron man. "Trust me, they already know we're here," said Fury calmly. I decided to scare them. "You're right about that." I said happily. I stepped out of cover. They all saw me, and weapons were pointed in my direction. "Now, do any of you have a death wish? Because you should if you're here, now get out of here before I kill you." I growled. Fury signaled for them to put their weapons down. "We did not come to attack. Only to talk." Said Fury calmly. I hoped out of the tree and then walked up to them. Looking at each of them, I noticed most were shivering. The Hulk shivered only with Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Fury shivered somewhat. Tony Stark had his suit that's all he needed. "I'm Huntress, follow me." I said as I turned. "Fire is so going to kill me." I grumbled. I lead them back to the cave, and as soon as I arrived all I saw was an angry Fireball.


	4. Jo Fireball 2

Jo

I stared at Stella, fury coloring my normally brown hair red orange, (or so I've been told.) I could feel my hair lifting with hot fury, the fire that starts in my heart poured down my arms, making them glow, and into my hands, making sizable fireballs. I could feel this happening, and I was struggling to stop. The leader, Fury, was the only thing keeping the others from starting a fight. After a few extremely tense minutes, I was able to calm and dim my fiery soul. I had my poker face on now, I crossed my arms so as not to be tempted to start a fight.

I will put up with a lot of things, having the people responsible for our need of hiding, in my home was not one of them. I felt betrayed by Stella for bringing them here. These people were here to put us in cages, or worse. There was no way I could protect my small family, they were all I had, and I was about to lose them. "What do you want." I asked Fury directly and threateningly, my voice cracking just enough that they knew I was about to break down and cry, but not without a fight. I stared at Fury with dislike, fear, hatred, and contempt. "We just came to talk." He told me with an attempt at a disarming voice, it wasn't bad, but I wasn't as easily fooled. "You and your team came all the way across country from _New York_ just to talk to us." I said disbelievingly, sarcastically. I was the angriest I had ever been. I honestly had no idea what I was going or prepared to do. The last time I felt this helpless, I got my powers and could have killed that boy. This was not a good feeling, I lash out when I'm scared, angry, or sad. Yeah, you could say I lash out a lot, but I have control over my temper. Not like now. Fury leveled his eyes with mine, and said. "Your right, we came to see if you are a danger to yourselves and those around you. If you are not, we'll leave." He said truthfully, but I knew it wasn't the whole truth. "And if we are?" I asked lightly. "Then we will put you in a place where you can learn your powers and not hurt anyone." "A cage." I added to his comment. "Yes." He replied. "And what if we know how to use our powers and we are still a danger to society? Are you going to kill us? Lock us up and throw away the key? Or better yet, leave us to the hate groups. It would never be seen as your fault." I said with quite a sarcastic attitude. "We wouldn't leave you to hate groups." Was all he had to say. "But you would kill us or lock us up." I said haltingly. "Only if necessary." He told me. I looked at him, sizing him up. I could tell he was a man of his word. "Do I have your word that without cause you will not hurt us?" I asked. "You have my word." He said. And that, was the end of my speculation. I was still furious, with Stella especially, but I could handle it. They could stay, I needed to keep an eye on them. "You can stay here. Forgive me, I have no extra beds for you, but feel free to sleep on the sand in the next chamber. Or even on the cold stone floor here." I said sweetly. "You can't really expect us to sleep on the floor, do you?" Iron man asked. "I do." Was the restrained response I offered him. I turned back to Fury. "You may stay in my tent, I'll sleep near the falls in the next chamber." I said with no fake sweetness, I felt respect for him. It would be an insult to my self respect if I hadn't offered the best I had. He accepted.

I didn't sleep that night, I pretended to sleep to put the "guests" at ease. But really I was wide awake, ready for a fight any second. I knew Stella would hold the same position. Dani was fast asleep for all I knew.

I got up earlier than usual, cleaning, cooking extra for our "guests". I was gathering wood for carving when I heard someone behind me. I pretended not to notice, gathering more slowly, humming even. When the sound was close enough, I whipped around and hit the stranger smack in the face with a particularly large log, or tried to. He ducked and got behind me, locking my arms behind my back. I bucked and squirmed. "Re-lax." The stranger panted. I stopped. "It's you." I said to Hawk Eye, quite annoyed. "Yep." He said. "You can let me go now, I won't attack." I told him calmly. He let go and I picked up my pile of wood, I stood up and looked at him. "What are you doing here." I asked non-too-kindly. "I'm helping you get firewood, you weren't expecting to need more than you had. I thought it was only fair." He told me truthfully. Why can't any of them lie and give me a reason to kill them already? "Fine. The firewood we have would be enough already, I'm getting more carving wood. To carve and sell." I said that last part when he raised his eyebrows. I showed him what kind of wood I was looking for. And we gathered until our arms were full. We got back before anyone was awake, Stella was still pretending, or trying, to sleep. I cooked some more soup, enough for all of us. Black Widow was awake when we got back, she looked like she was bored and needed something to do. I got the feeling none of these people were used to having nothing to do, Hawk Eye had the same look about him. I thought I might as well put them to use, so I sent them to hunt. Expecting anything from nothing to a whole lot of meat and skins to process. They left eagerly. Captain America woke next, I sent him for more wood. Telling him where Hawk and Widow were hunting so that he could avoid those areas, and avoid disturbing their hunt. I had no idea what to do with the Thor character, so I sent him fishing away from the others. I hadn't had fish in a long time, he felt nobly. Strange, strange god. Iron man woke next, I left him to his own devices. Hulk was the last to wake, I had him help me gather vegetables for the soup. When I got back, I finished up the soup. Everyone arrived and awoke by the time breakfast was ready. I ate first thing in the morning, so I instead butchered the winnings of the people I sent to hunt. I either added the meat to the soup when they were finished, or I dried and salted it. I ignored the others as I dealt with the skins three hours later, preparing them to dry so that I may use them in future clothes and blankets. I finished that in only one hour, I kept an eye on them as I carved. Thinking, like I always did. They weren't government monsters as I thought, they were people. We weren't hiding from the government, we were hiding from the general populous. The fearful haters. The thought gave me the first optimistic thought I had ever had. It spurred me into action. As soon as these people saw we weren't a threat, they'd leave. They wouldn't care if we had a safe-haven for those who need to hide. We could really pull it off if I didn't have to worry about the government. I put my carving down, and explored the forest. Looking for a good place to keep thousands of people, a nice big cave. To stay in all year, close enough to the market that we could get salt, and other things we can't get otherwise, easily. I looked for three hours before I returned. But I wasn't giving up. I asked if Hawk, Captain, Widow, and Hulk would help me look. I told them as little as possible. I chose them because they seemed the most likely to understand. Two days of uneventful looking until on the third day we found it. The perfect place.

It was a cave on a beach, set into the mountain across from the shore. It had a network of chambers in the rock, it would take some exploring to figure out just how much space there was. But it was stable, and it would be worth it. There were large chambers for gatherings, smaller chambers for individual bedrooms, and waterfalls and freshwater streams that led to the ocean. Making a river on the way. It wasn't just one level of chambers, it was several. Underground, mostly. But there were a few above ground levels with a loft. On the ground level you could look straight up and see the three levels of lofts. There were several staircases, the larger places had long tables from king times, looking like dinning halls. There were paintings on walls, statues everywhere, the bedrooms had king size beds and closets with doors. My first assessment was wrong, this place was not a natural cave, in was hand made. And built like a very old mansion. When you first walk in you see a few caves, empty. But that was just the front, if you travel farther you see a mansion with upper levels and lofts in the rock, and maybe hundreds of safe underground levels. It even had decent pluming, that worked just as well now as it did then. It couldn't be more than ten years old. "The old reserve." America said. "What?" I asked him, forgetting my dislike of him for the moment. "Around ten years ago there was a very successful reserve. A lot of very rich people invested, it was famous for natural hot springs. So they made it to look like a mansion so more honeymooners would pay to visit. It was very successful when it started in 1900, it was upgraded (with pluming only) and kept in shape until 1980. That's when there was an avalanche covering the entrance to the cave network, everyone was able to get out, but they all assumed it was destroyed. That's why we had to dig through all that debris when we came in, the springs were all natural, and kept that way. They should still be here, even with all that time that passed." He was right, we had only dug through because Iron man insisted that there was something back there. Like I said before, it was safe now. I could tell, however unsafe it was then, it was safe now. "I know this place." I told him. "It was in the newspapers a while back, not the hidden reserve, I didn't know that. But this beach has a reputation of people disappearing. Lots of crabs, bears, and other wildlife too. It gave the people a reason to leave it be, what with all the life. It was deemed a no visitor zone, the scientists finished with it years ago. Deeming that with all the wildlife and disastrous rainstorms, it was unsuitable for humans to live here. They stopped studying here too. Locals even say it's cursed, that this is mother nature retaliating. Criminals hide here, as local cops would say, with all the wildlife, they can pass off the disappearances as accidents. This is a place that it's illegal to go to. It's perfect." I said in wonder. They stared at me. "Huntress tells me stories from town." I said simply, assuming she hadn't told them her real name. "What part of what you just said means that it's safe to be here?" Iron man asked me as if I was crazy. "The part where no-one would bother us and the caves are safe from everything else." I said with sarcasm. He shook his head, but didn't push. I let it go, I was too happy. Now all we had to do was get a rumor out where safe-haven was, without attracting hate groups and fearful townspeople. It would have to be intricate, we walked back, I thought about how we could bring others to this place. I hadn't told Stella what we had been doing these past few days, she just seemed happy I hadn't tried to kill them yet. I carved when we got there, wanting to have a rumor prepared when I told her. Only the next day did I perfect the rumor while into my first hour of carving, I knew it would change and evolve through word of mouth among locals. I was about to tell Stella when I realized the locals would know her, it would have to come from someone new to the area, or so they would think. I decided to do it myself, I told Stella I was going to get more herbs, and it would most likely take all day.

When I got to the market place, I was assaulted by sights and smells. Statues, food, sweat, and no small amount of other odd things I had never seen or heard of before. I wore a cloak to look the maximum of threatening, not many were brave enough to try to sell to me. I bought some fresh herbs, I didn't show my face. Someone bumped into me, knocking the cloak hood off my head. My hair was down, but no-one was looking at that. They were looking at the scar on my face.

This was another reason I didn't go out. When I was fifteen, I was walking home to my orphanage, five men attacked me, with knives. I didn't have time to use my power, I had less skill with it back then. Stella had taught me to knife fight, I hadn't much practice back then. I sustained a few scars, one of which was on my face. It started above my right brow, missing my eye, going over the bridge of my nose all the way across my left cheek and ending at my jaw. After that day I learned knife fighting with more commitment, I got attacked more, got more scars. I had no idea where Stella learned to fight like that, but I knew it couldn't be a nice story, and she must have had hidden scars from the learning process, and I never pressed.

Now the scar on my face would be to my benefit, I realized, they had no idea how I got it. I looked at all of them, staring at me with fear. At least three of them would spread rumors about the scarred stranger already, if I spoke they'd talk about that as well. So I did. "This is what happens when good people go to visit the monsters on the cursed beach in their cursed palace, if they live." I just added the last part, they would all find secret meaning to the word "monster" I knew. And some smart people would seek the beach for safe-haven, I hoped. The people would also find secret meaning in "palace", that's what and how the people with abilities would look for safe-haven.

I left with my goods and told Stella all about my activities these past few days, she was pleased. But a little irked I hadn't told her sooner, she said we needed to prepare the "palace" for new arrivals quickly. We left the our cave and transported our valuables to the new cave. The Avenger team only kept an eye on us as promised, I worked for the next month on getting the place ready. Dani built her weapons in an office, clearing stuff out to make room. Stella hunted, as well as Widow and Hawk. I found refrigerators built for chefs and could fit several bear carcases hung on meat hooks, in at least three kitchens. Finally, we wouldn't need to dry stuff out, and there were smaller refrigerators for vegetables, as well as spice cabinets, and gas stoves. There was only one dinning room, but it had three really, _really_ long tables. But that was only the first floor above ground. Just envision Hogwarts and a chef and servant maintained mansion combined, in a cave, and you have the right idea. Stella was shopping for things we needed, new sheets (the others were dusty, and in the washers in one of the ginormous laundry rooms), pots, pans, bowls, plates, cups, herbs, and mountains of clothes in all sizes, when she wasn't hunting or eating and sleeping. I was working my ass off with Dani cleaning all the dishes, dusting, sweeping, putting the entire place back to it's original glory. I was carving and selling furs to buy all these things, Dani was making and selling guns and things to help pay for all the things Stella had to buy.

After a month had passed and I was certain we had enough things for now, (I had also butchered and sold half the meat hunted, the other half I put in the refrigerators.) the shopping and preparations were slowed down quite a bit. The place was pristine, I had labeled all of the spices with brail, using my hand jeweler. All the clothes and dishes were washed and dried, unfortunately there is no dishwasher or clothes drier, we had to hang clothes around a fire to dry them, and no clothes washer. When I said the sheets were in the clothes washer, I meant that Hulk, Captain, and even Iron man were washing clothes. Or having their suits was clothes in the waterfall. When I said laundry room I meant the room with both a fire pit, and a waterfall. Everything was ready for people. I had memorized the network, put away spices in the kitchen, made all the beds, and found the hot springs on the lower floors. No-one had come. I asked Stella if the rumors hadn't started, but she assured me everyone was talking about my visit as a "stranger". She told me it would take time for the rumor to spread past the village, and longer still for others to decode it, and to be patient.

In the spring we got the Avengers team permanent rooms, and the first refugees came in. They were a lot of scared teenagers from thirteen to eighteen, they had just got their powers and had no idea how to use them. Stella, Dani and I took on teaching them as well as doing chores. We had the children help with dishes and laundry, they made their own beds and kept their rooms clean. But other than that we did the chores and took care of them. I had Dani make medieval weapons to put in the armory. Stella bought some gym items to put in there so that it was a physical training center. She taught them to fight, I taught the ones interested to butcher, cook, carve, and sew. This would help if some of them learned and took on the responsibility, we could sell meat, skins, and carvings, to get money for all the necessities. We had thirty teens by the end of the month, exercise was mandatory, building weapons or carving with Dani and me were optional. Fights unsupervised or not for training was punishable by taking on the person they hurt's chores. As you can tell, fights were kept to a minimum. Food in the bedrooms were ban, but we were fine with them eating in there. We just had to not _find_ food in there during the daily inspection of rooms, we had those so that everyone kept a clean room at all times. There were set times for meals, exercise, apprenticeships, cleaning, and sleeping. I was quite happy with our current turnout, some of them were from all the way to Oregon and Idaho. But only a few, I was getting confident that more would come over time, Stella seemed happy. Everyone (at least to me) seemed to not fight for fear of getting an earful from Dani, she was a force to be feared when she caught the teens fighting for _any_ reason. She recently made the rule that both fighting parties (physical, we don't care about verbal until it becomes physical) have to take on_all_ of our (mine and hers) cleaning chores until both parties's injuries healed completely, so blame didn't matter and both would stop fighting. It worked way better than the previous rule, and no-one bothered to say whose fault it was anymore. And the few fights that did happen there were very small and fast healing injuries. As for the powers, all three of us rotated groups over the five days of the week, teaching them as best we could. Testing their power's extent and giving them practice in safe environments. I cooked the meals, I had majored in culinary skills for college, planning going to law school next. So I knew several recipes. I felt happy, I could use my full skill in cooking now. I even had a staff of kids. The last rule that didn't involve the schedule was that everyone had to choose a skill to learn and help maintain the "palace", their choices until more adults with different skills came was: Cooking, butchering, carving, and sewing, I taught, hunting and knitting Stella taught, weapons making, Dani taught. All that was safe for them to learn and make mistakes.

On weekends they got to mess around in a large nearby cave, they couldn't hurt each other, but other than that they had two days out of the seven day week to mess around with no chores, gym, or apprenticeships. It was in a nearby cave so if it went down the "palace" would be safe. We had safety protocols as well


	5. Dani Panther

Please please please please please please PLEASE write a review.

Chapter 3: Dani

I've never been the most normal girl in the world, but having all these kids here it made me feel even more of a freak. They talked about school, and their ex-boyfriends & girlfriends. As if they weren't here. The kids became a very large family; for the most part. They had friends and were even dating but, in all their happiness and joy that they could be themselves they lost the purpose of the "palace". They were learning about their powers but they weren't experimenting with them on the free days. I was even becoming like them, I hadn't changed into anything in over a month. I mean I didn't exactly have a lot of extra time but, I was beginning to feel like a softer, nicer version of myself. I need out. I need to run through the forest as nothing but a black panther.

I had gotten almost to Jo's door when one of Stella's students came storming out. It was Drew, I remembered him because he had tried to convince me to let him into my class when I was over my assigned capacity. Jo was convinced he had a crush on me. Yeah, right.

"Hi, D." Drew said standing inappropriately close to me. "Drew. My name is Dani, not D. You should be in Stella's class right now."

"Ah, D. I skipped, I figured we could have some alone time." He said, winking and stroking my arm.

"Look, Drew. I know you were the popular guy that girls melted and swooned over before became this. But I swear to god fucking Christ! I'm not your girlfriend and I'm not your friend, I'm a teacher. My name is Dani, not D! Now get your piddly ass to fitness, now!" I said rolling my eyes. Goodness, I hated it when they made me the bad guy. What was even worse was that if I had been shifting lately I would have been so much nicer to him.

"Dani? What going on out here?" Jo asked coming out of her office/room looking suspicious.

"Drew. Again."

"That boy is grinding my nerves. Do you know he hasn't been to fitness all week?" She said sounding like she was trying not to explode.

"That doesn't surprise me. Hey listen, Jo can you get Stella to cover my class later?"

"Dani. I'm trying to get students to pass on skipping on class and you _want to skip on your own class?_" Jo said looking frustrated.

"I know. I know but, it's not even a hard lesson. It's listing the parts and functions of a standard police issued Beretta. She could teach this lesson if she was dead. Please, Jojo!"

"Alright! Okay, okay. Just as long as you NEVER call me Jojo ever again." She said laughing.

"Thank you, thank you, you are the BEST!"

"I know. Don't forget that Tony's coming by to check on us today."

"I'll be back. I promise!" I was filled with the sudden burst of joy. I was worried about Stark visiting because all of the girls loose focus more when he's here. But why am I thinking about that now? Where are my keys? Screw it. Who needs a car when you can climb anything. There were a lot of cliffs but some of the kids said there was a giant forest on top. That was my best shot but I was going to need my Doc Marten's for this. I got dressed and sprinted to the cave's opening. It was sunset. My favorite time at the beach, it made me think of...NO! I'm not...I refuse to think about that, to feel that. Not again, not ever. Just get to the forest. It was high-tide which made it a little harder than it should have been but what's life without challenges? When I got to the top I realized that I hadn't left the cave in weeks. But, thankfully the kids were right, this was a **huge **forest. And in a blink I was a panther. I could smell the fish in the water, I could hear the cars from miles away, I could feel the spray from the ocean drift up the cliff and land on my tail, and I could see the birds in the top-most perches of the trees. I took off, I don't know where I thought I was going but, in no time I had found someone's scent. I stopped, it was human, but it was animal. Shape-shifter. Not any animal, panther. No! It's not! That's impossible! But sure enough, when I turned around there was a panther. A jet black panther. I involuntarily snarled. I changed back and tried to talk to him, but he lunged, causing me to jump/change. When I get scared, like someone scares me, I change. I ran off to the palace. When I got there I didn't bother to change but, I forgot most of the kids haven't seen me like this. It was safe to say they looked scared as hell.

"Dani!? What are you doing!" Jo exclaimed, running out of the kitchen. I changed back.


	6. Please read

I would love it if someone colluding post a review. Tell me what you think and what you think I should do for the next chapter. Please be nice about your comets.

I would love ideas for story's, characters, or anything else.

Thank everyone who has read my story!


	7. Stella Huntress 2

Stella

Creeping down the hall. I stop at the sound of noise. Dani left me with her class so I got an extra hour of annoying teens bugging me. Jo laughed at my angst of teens. Of course I ended up with a class full of annoying teenage boys with crushes on their twenty-one year old teacher. Annoyances, I want to run for my life out of here right now. Thankfully that class is over now and I'm trying to escape but there are three guys hoping to bug me before I leave.

Poking my head around the corner I see bow, archer, and David. Annoying three constantly bugging me. I have every student call me Stella and these three always make sure to call me **Huntress.**

I walk out, let's just hope that they leave me alone.

"Hey, Huntress," great, just great.

They all walk up to me smiling and smirking.

"Can you three leave me alone right now, I am kinda in a hurry, thanks bye."

"Well hold it right there, we can't let our teacher just walk around without a gentleman walking with her," states Archer.

This is annoying, how do you get rid of three teenage boys?

"Ok, which one of you is coming?"

They all gave each other a funny look before they started arguing.

Only one would come with me if they decided on one. They will probably continue to argue while I escape. If they do decide on one I am faster than anyone in this place, I can lose whoever it is in the woods.

The argument continues between the three of them. I listen to it before turning and walking out the entrance. Before taking off I turn back to the bickering boys.

"See you later," I call out getting their attention. I take off before any of them can complain about it or follow me.

Running is everything to me, running gets you away from danger, running gets you to the battle so you can help, and running is your survival. From the moment I got my ability's running was everything for me, to me it means freedom and hunting.

Today is no different, I carry my bow and arrows, and a long knife. I'm like a wolf, I need to hunt. I plan on being quick, Tony Stark is coming over to check out everything.

I do not follow the path the teens are supposed to follow. Instead I head off to a new field a mile in the opposite direction of the path. No one ever goes where I'm going so no one will cause problems.

Once there I climb one of the very old trees, perching myself like a cat on one of the branches.

I'm down wind of all my prey, but this is not a hunting place, this is my place of peace. Here is where I come to watch animals and listen to the wind and rustling leaves. Rabbits are the only thing I hunt here. Today I watch a small wolf pup chase mice. It stalks them through the grass then pounces, trying to catch it before it goes in it's hole.

It's a black pup with white paws that makes it look like he ran through paint. The white continues up most of it's legs. I can speak to the wolf pup unlike any other animal. It does not have a mother or father and no pack. I think it was abandoned. Because of this I have been bringing food to it every day. Today I plan on bringing him back with me.

"Shadow, come here," I say gently. His ears perk up and he looks for me, so I climb out of the tree and come out so he can see me. He barks excitedly and runs over to me.

"Huntress, I missed you mommy," he says to me happily.

"Come on, Shadow, I am going to take you home with me," I say as I pick him up and hold him to my chest.

"Ok, mommy." With that I head back home.

We reached home and I washed him then washed myself so I did not smell bad. I got re-dressed then headed into the room that shadow slept in.

I came in to see Jo watching the pup sleep. The confusion was evident on her face.

"I will explain late, why did you come Jo, is there something wrong?" I questioned worriedly.

"Yes Stella, Dani caught some guy just like her and Tony Stark just arrived."

All I could say in one thing.

"Great."

For those who would like to know this book is done by three girls. Each came up with our own character and each reads what the other two wrote and continues. We will be adding another writer but not for a little while. This book is shared between the three of us at school were we write it.

I write Huntress/Stella

My friend lilly writes Fireball/Jo

My friend Rhyan writes Panther/Dani


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